Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Amazing Dholavira Part IV

In
this last part of the series I want to highlight certain aspects of
the life of Dholavira residents, commonly called as Harappans.
Obviously this is not an exclusive list but a few of the features of
the life of these people , that I have found not only interesting but
sometimes intriguing.

Dholavira's
geometry

Dholavira
founders, like all other Harappans from other cities and habitats,
were extremely orderly and systematic. The layout of the towns or
buildings, built with mathematical precision, are a testimony for
this. Michel Danino is a France born scientist, now settled in
India. He has carried out extensive research about geometrical ratios
found in Dholavira. In his paper “ The Metrology behind Harappan
Town Planning,” he says that all sub areas of Dholavira metropolis
were laid out such that their lengths and breadths were in a ratio of
two integer numbers such as 5:4 or 7:6. Here are some of the ratios.

Dimension

Ratio

Entire City

5 to 4

Castle (Inner
dimensions)

5 to 4

Castle (Outer
dimensions)

5 to 4

Bailey

1 to 1

Middle town

7to 6

Ceremonial ground

6 to 1

Castle's outer to
inner lengths

4 to 3

Danino
says that these ratios match exactly the ratios found in various
other mature Harappan sites such as Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Lothal and
Surkotada. Even the directions along which layouts were planned were
usually along the cardinal directions. Danino points out that “
Harappan architects and builders did not believe in haphazard
constructions, but followed precise canons of aesthetics based on
specific proportions.” I feel that existence of some sort of
architectural or builder''s standards can not be ruled out.

Dholavira
Cemeteries

Dholavira residents disposed off
their dead in an area that lies to the west of the citadel, in
between the bailey and the sea coast. (now Rann coast) However there
is no fixed pattern of the graves as Harappans had a composite
society having different ethnic / tribal communities following their
own practices. In the cemetery there were cist burials that
included simple cists ( a small stone-built coffin-like box), a cist
in a cairn ( a man made pile of stones) circle, a circle or a
half-circle containing several graves. In addition Archaeological
survey of India also found seven hemispherical constructions two of
which were subjected to excavations. These were huge mud brick
structures, having a circular plan and hemispherical elevation. While
one was designed in the form of a spoked wheel, the other was without
spokes. Both the structures were made over rock-cut chambers of large
dimensions.

Spoked wheel graves at Dholavira

(Image courtsey ASI)

Image may be copyrighted

Surprisingly, none of the graves or
cists had any skeletons indicating that these graves were symbolic.
or were memorial graves. ASI found that the graves were furnished
with grave goods mainly in the form of pottery. One of the
hemispherical structures yielded a necklace of steatite beads strung
in a copper wire with a hook at either end, a gold bangle, beads in
gold foil and other beads, besides specially made pottery. It is not
known, how the dead were actually disposed off, whether these were
cremated or were given a sea burial. ASI's R.S. Bisht has made an
interesting comment. He says.

“
The
hemispherical structures remind one of early Buddhist stupas. The
kind of design that is of spoked wheel and unspoked wheel also remind
one of the Sara-rata-chakra-citi and sapradhi-rata-chakra-citi
mentioned in the Śatapatha Brahmana and Sulba-sutras (Later Vedic
texts).”

Dholavira's
cultural activities

A city needed open spaces for
community gathering on festive or special occasions, royal
ceremonies, sports and entertainment and commercial activities during
trading season. Dholavira being a port city, arrival of a ship would
be an important event in the life of the city, when merchandise
brought by the ship would be on sale. Dholavira planners had planned
for this need.

Stadium Viewed from north gate

A huge open area measuring measured
283 m E-W and 45 to 47m N.S (ratio 6:1) was excavated by ASI. This
open area, lying between citadel and middle town, was closed from
all sides and entry to it was provided through two major gates, one
each on east and west. It was also furnished with tiered, stepped or
sloping stands on all four sides for spectators to sit and watch the
events going on in the open ground. ASI names it as great stadium.
Archaeologist R S Bisht says, "We found a multipurpose open
field which must have been used for everything, from sports like
wrestling and bullock cart races, to plays. Of course, plays in those
days were not the same as today. They were more like a joyous
procession with a variety of performances, including skits and dances
happening at the same time.” He adds; "The stands had gates
with stones that look worn out, as if bullock cart after bullock cart
had passed over it. The stadium was a very popular part of the
Dholavira settlement." A small portion of this field was
excavated by ASI. They found row after row of peg holes, which may
have been used to erect temporary stalls and dividers during
performances. This excavation also revealed that the field was
scattered with hundreds of jewellery beads. Mr. Bisht says, "You
can imagine performers decked in beads from top to bottom, freely
dancing and the beads falling everywhere.”

There was another smaller stadium
called the little stadium abutting the castle in north-western corner
that was separated from the great stadium by a massive stand from,
but was connected to it through an opening. For what functions,
this smaller stadium was used, remains unknown, but one can speculate
that that this might have been the green room where performers
dressed up before walking onto the main stage or it could also have
been used for exclusive shows for the royalty of the time.

Yadubirsingh
Rawat, director of Gujarat government's department of archaeology who
was part of Bisht's original team, says, "You can call the field
'rangbhoomi' or arena or stadium. We found steps around it which were
used as stands for the audience. Also, they seemed to be adding a new
layer of mud to the field every year. The mud was imported from
outside Dholavira." This layering gave the stage unique
acoustics and sonorous quality.

Dholavira's
religion

Dholavira people, like other Harappa
people, were idol worshipers. They worshiped a female figurine as a
symbol of Fertility. A male figurine also has been found. A Phallic
symbol in form of a Lingam also has been found at Dholavira.

A Lingam

A male figurine

A figurine of a pregnant female

A female figurine

Dholavira's
lifestyle

Dholavira excavations have brought
to light thousands of artifacts, which give us a fair idea about the
life style of these people. The main weapon of these people appears
to be bow and arrow, though some copper axes and hammers also have
been found. Necklaces of beads made from semi precious stones,
shells, have been found. Women wore rings on their ankles as well as
forearms. Cooking was done in terracotta pots and bronze utensils,
surprisingly with designs still being used in Indian kitchens. This
is also true for the food grinders made from stone. Weights and
measures made from quartz, sling balls from stone and extremely
beautiful lamp holders and gold ornaments, the list is endless.

Copper objects

Kitchen Utensils

Terracotta lights

A Copper mirror

(photo curtsey ASI)

(Image may be copyrighted)

I now come to the end of this
series, I have tried to describe some of the major features of this
pre-historic civilization that amazed me, but I am quite aware that I
have just skimmed the surface. I would suggest to anyone interested,
to read more from excellent books and reports published by ASI
archaeologists.

2 comments:

Nice presentation, good photos and informative narration. Do you have the photograph of well and nearby structures (Another small pit near well). It is a cist grave. Unfortunately , i did not take the picture of that pit. I searched it all over the net, but i could not find the photo of the pit near that well. If you have the photo, kindly upload it in your blog site. (Or) send it to me by e-mail, i will be grateful for the kind gesture. It is only for educational purpose. See my postings at my web-site ---https://sites.google.com/site/induscivilizationsite/home/dholovera---photos

You can see a photograph of the well in Dhloavira citadel here:http://www.akshardhool.com/2013/02/kutch-and-kathiawar-tryst-with-history_8.html

However, I do not support your idea of the pit near the well being a cist grave. It was just a water storage tank where water pumped out by primitive bull aided arrangement was stored. This is clear because a water channel leading to the pit can be clearly seen in one of the walls of the pit.